(Great) Employees Only

Dale Dauten writes two nationally syndicated weekly columns that appear in more than one hundred newspapers. He began his career as a consultant before heading his own marketing research firm, whose clients include McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, and 3M, among others. Most recently, as the founder of The Innovator's Lab, he has worked with such companies as Georgia-Pacific, General Dynamics, Caterpillar, and NASA. He is also the author of The Gifted Boss.

• Preface xv48 Things Gifted Bosses KnowPART I 90-10-0: The Formula for Leadership SuccessNumber 1 Hiring Is Motivation, or It’s Less Work to Get 100 Percent Improvement than 10 Percent Improvement 2Number 2 You Can Change People, or You Can Change People 6Number 3 The First Step to Finding Star Employees Is Believing That They Exist, or How to Make the Playing Field as Un-Level as Possible 8Number 4 You Can Lead an Employee to Water, but If You Find One Who Knows a Better Path to the Water, Shut Up and Get a Bucket 11PART II From Employees to AlliesNumber 5 Those Aren’t Employees (or Friends, Enemies, Family, or Students)—Those Are Allies 14Number 6 Those Aren’t Former Employees—Those Are Graduates 19Number 7 You Never Get Rid of Anyone 23Number 8 It’s Not Closure That’s Needed—It’s Aperture 25Number 9 How Two Allies (a Great Employee and a Gifted Boss) Find Each Other 26Number 10 Assume the Best, Part I: The Art of Being a True Ally 29Number 11 Assume That the Best Employees ALWAYS KNOW 34Number 12 What’s a Great Employee Worth? 38PART III The Graceful Art of De-HiringNumber 13 Replacing People Is so Hard for Most Bosses That They Don’t Do Enough of It 42Number 14 You Are Becoming Your Coworkers 43Number 15 A Meeting Moves at the Pace of the Slowest Mind in the Room 45Number 16 Firing Takes Guts—De-Hiring Requires Heart 47Number 17 Assume the Best, Part II: The Genius Lurking Inside 55Number 18 The My-Situation-Is-Different Myth: De-Hiring Works in Any Type of Business or Industry, Even Government 59Number 19 Intelligent Failing 62Number 20 You Can’t Buy Love from Fired Employees 66Number 21 From Set-Up-to-Fail to Set-Up-to-Be-a-Hero 71Number 22 You Aren’t Just Changing Employees—You’re Changing Lives 75Number 23 Lessons from a Master of the Art of De-Hiring 78PART IV Inspiring, Effortless Leadership (The First Step in Hiring Great Employees)Number 24 You Can Take Credit, but You Can’t Give It Away 86Number 25 Effortless Leadership, Part I: No One Wants to Be Managed, so Stop Doing It 89Number 26 Effortless Leadership, Part II: Management by Asking Questions 91Number 27 Effortless Leadership, Part III: The One Who Manages Least, Manages Best 94Number 28 Effortless Leadership, Part IV: Winning versus Working 101Number 29 Guess What Kind of Employee Is Attracted to Average Pay? 108Number 30 Never Bet on Employees Who Don’t Want to Bet on Themselves 112Number 31 What’s the Score? Or How to Go from Shooting Around to Playing to Win 115Number 32 You Get What You Pay For: What Employees Believe They Get Paid For, Not What You Thought You Were Paying For 119Number 33 When the Inspired Culture Takes over the Hiring and De-Hiring 121PART V Hiring Is What You Do So You Don’t Have to Manage (and It’s What You Do with Some of the Time You Save by Not Having to Manage)Number 34 Hiring Is More Important than Sales 126Number 35 The Hiring Pipeline: The Best Selection Process in the World Is Only Capable of Picking the Best Person in the Competition 130Number 36 Contrarian Hiring, Part I: The Underground Talent Market 137Number 37 If You’re Feeling Insulted Right about Now 139Number 38 Contrarian Hiring, Part II: Finding Unusual People in the Usual Places 141Number 39 Contrarian Hiring, Part III: The Action Interview 146Number 40 Contrarian Hiring, Part IV: It’s Not Just a Job—It’s a Break 155Number 41 Contrarian Hiring, Part V: Hunting for New Talent Pools and/or Doing Pool Construction 157Number 42 Being Worthy of the Best Talent: In the Long Run, You Get the Employees You Deserve 161Number 43 If You Want Great Performances, You Have to Provide a Great Audience 165Number 44 If You Don’t Have a Great Story, You Don’t Have Great Employees or a WOMPing Good Place to Work 168PART VI Understanding Bureaucrats, Upper Management, and Other DistractionsNumber 45 The Unspoken Assumption of Bad Management and Bad Marketing 176Number 46 The Team Makes the Stars While the Stars Make the Team 177Number 47 Your Work Is Only Part of Your Job 184Number 48 Leading via Happiness 190Final Thoughts 195Acknowledgments and Sources 197About the Author 199